WALKERS MAY FACE TRIALS BY MILITARY

The Navy is seriously considering recalling John A. Walker Jr. and Arthur J. Walker to active duty so they can be court-martialed on spying charges rather than tried in a civilian court, sources said Friday.

Officials said the move would give the Pentagon more power to withhold sensitive military information in the quickly unfolding case in which John Walker's son, Seaman Michael Lance Walker, 22, also has been charged.

Justice Department lawyers are certain to oppose any such move, which would give the military more control not only over disclosures that could damage national security but also over disclosures that could prove embarrassing to the Navy.

Disclosure of the Navy's plans came as sources said a fourth person suspected of taking part in the alleged espionage ring and identified in court records only as "D" is a California man.

Federal agents have questioned "D," who agreed to a search of his premises, but the results of the contacts could not be learned. John Walker met the suspect while both served in the Navy.

Walker's career included service in San Diego from 1969 to 1971 and in Vallejo in 1963.

According to an affidavit unsealed Thursday in Norfolk, Va., letters "D" wrote to Walker on Nov. 12, 1984, and last March 25 were found in a trash bag left at a rural Maryland drop site before Walker was arrested May 20. The bag also contained 129 secret and confidential Navy documents.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Michael Burch said it would be "within the law" to recall the Walker brothers, both of whom retired after lengthy Navy careers. Burch added that he had not heard of the Navy proposal.

Arthur Walker, 50, of Virginia Beach, Va., served on a series of submarines before he retired in 1973 as an instructor in anti-submarine warfare. His brother, a 47-year-old private detective in Norfolk, retired in 1976 after 20 years as a communications specialist in the Navy.